Half-Staff: Tribute or Political Statement

June 24, 2007 — -- Army Sgt. Justin Wisniewski of Standish, Mich., was killed last month in Iraq while searching for three missing soldiers.

As he was buried, the American flag was lowered to half-staff at all the state's buildings, just as it is every time a serviceman or woman in Michigan is killed in Iraq, which has occurred 127 times since late 2003.

"I think that the families really need to know that their loved one will be remembered, and this is a way of remembering them," said Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm.

But just as the war has ignited debate in this country, so has the decision by 30 states to fly the flag at half-staff for their fallen.

Some war supporters said the gesture is being used by war crtics to make an anti-war statement. The flags at federal buildings are not lowered.

"It's really a statement pro-soldier, pro-family, pro-our communities who have lost these loved ones," Granholm said.

Some said lowering the flag so often, almost every week in Michigan, could trivialize its symbolism.

"If the flag is half staffed all the time, then it will be trivialized in that we won't take notice to it anymore," said Joyce Doody of the National Flag Foundation. "We want to make sure that half-staffing remains a significant, unique gesture of national mourning."

In fact, states did not lower their flags for those killed in action during World War II, and the U.S. flag code calls for the honor only for the deaths of officials. However, the Virginia Tech massacre victims were given the honor.

Recently, there was another funeral in Michigan. It was for Cpl. Casey Zylman. Hundrends lined the street in his home town and the flags once again were lowered over state buildings. The flags flied at full-staff above federal buildings.

It could serve as a symbol for a nation still divided about the subject.

Congress has passed legislation that would give governors the authority to order flags lowered at state and federal buildings as they see fit. President George W. Bush has not decided whether to sign it.